Capt ‘disagrees’ with PC’s view on 1984 riots

State Congress chief Captain Amarinder Singh said on Thursday that he disagreed with union home minister P Chidambaram’s statement that it was time to “forgive and move on” in reference to the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. “Yes, I disagree with Chidambaram’s view as somebody has to pay for the massacre of Sikhs,” the former Punjab chief minister said. “There is no point in forgetting or forgiving anybody.”

Amarinder said the community had not even forgotten a 300-year-old “massacre” of Sikhs during the Mughal reign.

Speaking about the 1984 riots, senior Congress leader Chidambaram had said in New Delhi on June 25: “It is time that we forgive and move on to build a new India where every citizen irrespective of faith has equal place.”

‘Haryana shouldn’t build wall’

Amarinder criticised the Congress government in Haryana for constructing a concrete wall along the Hansi-Butana canal, and accused the SAD-BJP government in Punjab of “criminal negligence” for letting Haryana start work on the wall.

“As the issue is pending in court, the Haryana government must wait for the decision of the apex court,” Captain said, adding that he feared the wall would result in flooding in several villages of Punjab.

He said instead of admitting to his failure to act on time, chief minister Parkash Singh Badal was trying to blame the UPA government.